WAVERLY, W.Va. (WTAP) - In the past, WTAP reported that the treatment facility at Mountwood Park had trouble making payments. Mountwood Park board members say they're happy to report that's no longer the case.

The board met Monday night for an update on the White Oak Run Recovery Center. The board says the facility is up-to-date on its rent and utilities.

That's $36,000 at the first of each month. The facility hopes to start accepting clients as soon as possible. Nine cottages on site have the potential to house 70 beds.

It's been almost a year and a half since Pressly Ridge left and the treatment center took its place.

"We're so tickled that the last few months they've been on time with the rent. They paid all their obligations and we're really expecting them to move forward. They're excited to get clients in and we're excited for them to do that. Lord knows that West Virginia needs another recovery option," said Blair Couch, Mountwood Park Board Chairman.

In other Mountwood news, its annual Easter Egg Hunt will be Saturday, March 31st at 11 a.m. It's a free event.

The board also extended a five-year contract with Martin Marietta for mineral rights.

UPDATE: 2/6/18 7:30 PM

Members of the Mountwood Park board met up tonight to discuss the future of the parks current tenant.

Reliance is a drug addiction treatment center that began leasing White Oak Village back in November.

Months since, Reliance has been having trouble paying rent which the park funding relies heavily on.

After an executive meeting, the board decided to continue working with the current tenant but on more strict grounds.

Mountwood Park Chairman, Blair Couch, explains, “We want to verify that he understands the terms and conditions of the lease and he adheres to them, as we are adhering to our side of it. We think there are options but we want to make sure that our current tenant, that we spent a year with, is going to be successful and that is our whole goal. We don’t see any reason, other than to make him successful, and the park is too.”

Couch says the board decided the tenant has until March 1st to pay rent on time, as well as in future months, otherwise more drastic action will be taken.

UPDATE: 1/26/2018, 2:43 P.M.

The Mountwood Park Board will hold a special meeting at 5:30 P.M. on Wednesday, Jan. 31, at the Judge Black Annex in Parkersburg, to discuss the future of Reliance Treatment Center, the current tenant of White Oak Village in Mountwood Park.

Reliance is a drug addiction treatment center that began leasing White Oak Village in November, 2017.

The Mountwood Park Board says Reliance has had trouble making lease payments in recent months, and some Mountwood Park Board members have previously said they plan to market the property to other possible tenants if Reliance can't come through with payments.

Reliance is currently renovating the White Oak Village property and has previously said it expects to start serving clients this summer.

UPDATE: 1/15/2018, 10:45 P.M.

The Mountwood Park Board met Monday night to discuss a contingency plan. The board says its current tenant is having trouble making payments.

Reliance Treatment Center came to Mountwood Park in November. Mountwood Park Chairman Blair Couch says it was going well at first.

Couch says the last few months have changed. There's been a delay in payments. The board is working on marketing to draw in other potential tenants if it comes to that.

Couch say the park relies heavily on funding from that rental property.

"We hope that they will come forward and make things right. We know that there's other people that are really interested in trying to make an impact in our community and in West Virginia about the opioid crisis, so we're reaching out to some of the other people we talked to. The board is highly concerned that property needs to be rented and do something good," said Couch.

In other Mountwood Park news, vendors can preregister for September's Volcano Days. It will be extra special this year, since it's the 30th anniversary.

Reliance Treatment Center could be serving clients as soon as mid-July, according to Mountwood Park Board.

This was discussed during the board's meeting Monday night. During this time, they approved the budget. Since they have a new tenant, the budget is much smaller than in previous years.

To help make up for the cuts, inmates from the WV Work Release Center will be doing seasonal work, like weeding.

"Everything is going in the right direction. We just need to get through the first year hurdle of a new tenant. We really just discussed how far we've come from when Pressley Ridge said, "We can't operate here anymore," said Blair Couch, Mountwood Park Board chairman.

The board reached a $115,000 settlement with Pressley Ridge a month ago. They say they're still waiting on that payment.

Update: 5/25/2017 5:35 P.M.

Four months after its departure, a former tenant of Mountwood Park reaches a settlement with its former landlord.

It covers Pressley's departure from White Oak Village, with several years left on its Mountwood contract.

The new tenant, Reliance Treatment, L.L.C., hopes to move more patients into the Mountwood site some time this summer.

"They hope to have patients in there, I'd say, by July," said Blair Couch, Wood County Commission President and chairman of the Mountwood board. "They're phasing in. The rent agreement was, zero dollars during the first three months, to give them the opportunity to refurbish. The next three months are for $8500. But at the same time, they're paying utilities for the White Oak Village."

Reliance is a Florida-based drug treatment center.

UPDATE: 3/20/2017 10:20 PM.

Some encouraging news for Mountwood Park.

White Oak Village's new tenant is one step closer to moving in.

At Monday's Mountwood Park Board Meeting, Reliance treatment L.L.C. told members its continuing to make progress.

The treatment center has paid its' utility boards and reached out to local vendors.

Board Chairman Blair Couch says the center will begin construction in the next few weeks.

Also Monday, board members entered mediation with former White Oak Village tenant, Pressley Ridge.

This means a third party will now help in negotiations.

Couch says it was necessary to avoid legal issues and move forward.

Update: 1/24/2017 4:25 P.M.

The old Pressley Ridge sign is down, and a new sign could soon take its place at Mountwood Park's White Oak Village.

Reliance Treatment L.L.C. recently got a Certificate of Need exemption to set up a facility at White Oak Village.

Mountwood Board Chairman Blair Couch says the organization has one more hurdle to clear: certification that White Oak's facilities are adequate for Reliance to move in.

Couch believes Reliance Ridge should be ready to do that-once Pressley Ridge officially moves out at the end of January.

1/09/2017

Discussions about Pressley Ridge and White Oak Village continue into 2017.

Board members say they will continue having meetings with Pressley Ridge to work out legal issues that need resolved.

Also at Monday's meeting, officers were elected for the new year. It was decided that the marina concessionaire agreement will continue for five years.

Lastly, the tenant interested in white oak village is still filling out the necessary paperwork for approval.

The Mountwood Board is one step closer to having a new tenant in White Oak Village.

During the special meeting, they met with an out-of-state- substance abuse treatment and behavioral health provider.

If all goes well with the necessary paperwork, there could be a lease agreement in place by February.

The identity of the provider is being withheld in the meantime until everything clears.

"To have Pressley Ridge tell us on October 21st that they were exiting the park that they'd called home for 20 years, for us to be sitting here December 16, in such a short time frame, to have agreed to in terms of a lease arrangement and the wait for them to receive their approval, I think we've accomplished a lot as a board," said Blair Couch, Mountwood Board member.

Mountwood Board will meet again in mid January.

The Mountwood Park Board met Monday night to talk more about the status of White Oak Village.

The board went into executive session when talking about which substance abuse treatment center might re-locate to there.

Board members are hoping the negotiations will be finalized soon. The current tenant, Pressley Ridge, will be gone at the end of January.

"We have a unique property. It truly is a wonderful facility called White Oak Village. It's been here for a long time. It's been home to Pressley Ridge for the past 20 years. Trying to find a new tenant is not an easy process, so we brought the board together. We continue to explore our options," said Blair Couch, Mountwood Park Board member.

Patsy Hardy was also sworn in as a new board member. She owns the S & P Harley Davidson in Williamstown, West Virginia.

An organization that's interested in renting White Oak at Mountwood Park took a tour of the facilities Wednesday.

Representatives from a substance abuse treatment center came all the way from Kentucky the day before Thanksgiving to look at it.

They came to see what the lodge, cottages and old school on the property have to offer. This is just one of many tours the Mountwood Board has hosted for interested tenants.

One board member says Wood County is one step closer to having more addiction recovery specialists in the area.

"Representatives all the way from Kentucky drove up here the day before Thanksgiving to be here, but that's the need and crisis situation that we're in. People, they need some hope and right before Thanksgiving. The hope is that we're going to turn this lodge and facility into a recovery center," said Blair Couch, a Wood County Commissioner and Mountwood Park Board Member.

The group that toured the grounds was with the Addiction Recovery Center of Kentucky.

11/17/2016 4:30 P.M.

One of four businesses interested in the soon-to-be-closed Pressley Ridge center will tour the facility next week.

Three companies already have had a look at the site located at Mountwood Park.

The latest is the Arc Recovery Center based in Kentucky.

Wood County Commissioner Blair Couch, a member of the Mountwood board, says Arc is scheduled to tour the site next Wednesday.

Couch says addiction treatment companies are among those being contacted about Pressley's availability.

"And I've challenged the others who want to come to our location to do their due diligence," he said "Find out about our area and our community, and about the opportunity to have employment. Mountwood's best benefit is to find a tenant who will pay us reasonable rent, and to employ local people at the same time."

The Recovery Point organization, mentioned as a possible tenant, says it is committed to locating at the former Naval Reserve building on Emerson Avenue.

71 people will lose their jobs with Pressley Ridge closing January 31st.

11/10/2016

Pressley Ridge is leaving Mountwood Park at the end of January and prospective buyers are already expressing interest in the property.

The Mountwood Board had a meeting Thursday to discuss who is interested. So far, it's caught the attention of four parties.

All of them are substance abuse treatment facilities. These include centers like Recovery Point and The Arc of Kentucky.

Some interested buyers have already toured the property and more potential tenants are on their way.

"We're going to continuously bring people in and once they see it, they understand how large this facility is. We need to really find someone that's going to help our community," said Blair Couch, Mountwood Board chairman.

The next meeting is Monday, November 21, 2016.

With its current client leaving, the future of a major facility at Mountwood Park is in doubt.

The Wood County Commission Monday discussed what happens after Pressley Ridge shuts down in January.

Earlier this year, the old Naval Armory building on Emerson Avenue was suggested as a location for an addiction recovery program already established in other West Virginia cities.

But Commissioner Blair Couch believes the White Oak Village building, now the location for Pressley Ridge, could better accommodate the Recovery Point program.

"We know it's in disrepair, and would require a lot of money to rehab," Couch told his fellow commissioners. "Perhaps Recovery Point would rather be out in the pretty woods of Mountwood. And we wouldn't have a huge problem with people afraid of 'not in my back yard'".

The Mountwood Park Board of Directors, of which Couch is a member, is to discuss the situation at a special meeting Thursday.

It will be held at 5:15 P.M. at the Judge Black Annex in downtown Parkersburg.

10/21/2016

It's had a presence at Mountwood Park for more than 20 years.

Now, a treatment center for children and families is about to close, putting dozens out of work.

Officially, it's called the White Oak Level Three residential program, but people in Wood County have known it as Pressley Ridge.

A statement from Pressley Ridge's corporate offices in Pittsburg says it has given notice of its intent to close the facility.

The statement does not give a closing date, but Wood County Commissioner Blair Couch, who serves on Mountwood Park's board of directors, says it is to take effect January 31.

"We are aware that the state plan is to reduce traditional residential care over the next 4 years," the company's statement says, "and this action is consistent with that direction. This decision does not come easy and was not without serious contemplation."

"In trying to find a new tenant, as I explained to someone, when a door closes, another one opens, Couch said Friday. "We've heard so much about the opioid epidemic and the lack of rehabilitation and treatment facilities throughout our state. This may give us a chance to have that here in Wood County."

In its statement, Pressley says it wants to expand its foster care and community programs.

"In an era of declining funds for residential programs, our goal is to focus on re-designing our services in our existing residential care programs and expand our continuum of community based and treatment foster care services.".

Couch says Pressley Ridge has 60 employees at its Wood County location.

The corporate office says it will transfer as many staff as possible within the organization..

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.